This morning, my husband and I joined our fellow Vincentians in the Windsor-Essex Central Council’s annual SleepWalk, a fund raiser that collects money used exclusively to purchase beds that are given away to families and individuals in need throughout the city of Windsor ON and the communities that surround the city. I wrote about the SleepWalk last year. Today seventeen members of our home conference in Amherstburg participated along with members of other conferences in our Central Council. As we walked through Windsor’s beautiful riverfront park, we chatted and laughed. People noticed us, in our SSVP shirts following our lead banner; many smiled or waved. We walked, laughed, shared Eucharist then breakfast. It was a fine example of ‘coming together as family.’

Father Joe Quinn celebrated mass with us at the conclusion of the walk. His homily struck home when he spoke about some of the common kind of prayers that we all make. The ones that begin, “God, please help…” Father Joe suggested that, perhaps when we ask for God to help and we don’t see anything happening right away, the reason might be that God’s response is an invitation to get up and do something about the need(s) that we are praying about. Perhaps it is when we combine prayer and action that God gives us the best results? It is our mission after all.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is a lay, Catholic organization
whose mission is to serve Christ in the poor
with love, respect, justice and joy.

Vincentians repeat these words at every meeting. Most of us know them by heart. We live them as our mission, personally and collectively. Oh we can get hung up on just who it is that we are serving. We might be focused on those poor families, or those men and women who reside in our jails, or those individuals who have no homes and live in our city streets. They are all very needy and sometimes they can be difficult to help. Once in a while we might forget that it really is Jesus the Christ whose home we enter as invited guests. It’s Jesus in that jail or on the street too. Combining prayer with service might help me remember.

Some of the people we encounter in our mission make us happy; there are others who are frustrating or for whom we shed tears. I need to remind myself that each one of them is Jesus, for me today and each one is my opportunity to get up and do something for Him. It is much easier to serve Jesus with love and respect. His justice is our goal. But joy? How does that work?

In the coming year we are going to read and hear a great deal about joy because the theme chosen for Canada’s Annual General Assembly is ‘The Joy of Serving.’ I’ll probably write about it a few times myself.

For starters, let’s take one idea about the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is superficial and fleeting. I can be happy today and in tears tomorrow. But joy has depth. Joy resides within me and remains through days of happiness and sorrow. Watching somebody’s baby playing makes me happy; seeing my own children grow through easy times and difficult ones brings me joy.

As Vincentians we come together, in our vocation, to share smiles and tears. Underlying both is the joy with which we serve.